Al Qaeda Gets a Twitter Account

Al Qaeda Gets a Twitter Account

The Al Qaeda terror group has opened a Twitter account. According to The Washington Free Beacon, the account was opened on September 23; early tweets dealt with “divisions between two Al Qaeda rebel groups in Syria.” 

The Arabic-language account, @shomokhalislam, had attracted over 2,100 followers by the morning of September 28.

Counterterrorism expert Patrick Poole says Al Qaeda’s Twitter account is par for the course: “We’ve seen terrorist groups make increasingly effective use of social media, particularly Twitter and Facebook, in recent years. Not only is this effective for propaganda purposes but also recruitment.”

“Initial tweets” from the account “decried the split between Syrian rebel groups and promised a neutral stance.” The split is viewed as the beginning of a good thing for Western nations that have been battling Al Qaeda since the 1990s.  

Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins.

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